Hello!

 

I bought an Orange Pi PC about two years ago which is still working perfectly to this day (very happy with it), but I am curious to know what would be considered the 'best' Single Board Computer at this time point time, which would be around the same price range ($15 USD).

 

'Best' being defined as having a decent processor, and good software support - which the Orange Pi PC eventually did.

 

I'm tempted to just buy another one of these for another project, but interested to know. Again, the main factor is price - $15 USD or less would be ideal.

To my knowlege only the OPi Zero`s and Nanopi NEO`s are in that price range.
For something better than you OPi PC you`ll have to pay more.
This price range is too low.

prices even for those el cheapo orangePi's increased in the last year.. You should't go by price but by needs. If your PiPC does the job well, just buy another H2+/H3 based.. OPi PC, One, Zero etc.

If you need something more, you should have a look for Rock64, actually quite cheap for what you get. 15$ for a board which doesn't do the job, is 15$ too much. Buy by use-case not price only.

25 minutes ago, chwe said:

have a look for Rock64, actually quite cheap for what you get.

And it became a great board. Tried it again a few days ago. It's now really at 1.5Ghz and stable. Also great youtube playback.
It's gotten almost as fast as the Odroid C2(when it's not overclocked)
Great job! I didn't think this would ever be such a good board. Only thing that was a minor was the slow cpu.

 

For $35 there's the NanoPi Fire3. An octa-core. But only 1GB ram. I've got the T3+, same SoC. Good board. Fastest of all.
An awesome board is the NanoPi Neo4. A RK3399 board.
Super fast. With heatsink $50.

Those with the Rock64 are the best value boards I think.

 

32 minutes ago, chwe said:

just buy another H2+/H3 based..

Just tried my OPi+2 again. It's slower than the RPi 3B.
Not a pleasant experience. But it depends on the use case of course.

 

There's going to be La Frite for $10. Seems decent.